Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays, Conquer Club! It seems Webmaster lackattack has given the community information about his next update as a sort of Christmas present :) Head on over to the official thread in General Discussion to give your input on the coming update!

And I'm sure many of you Subscribers are looking forward to the Subscriber if the Issue! This issue, it is i_am_the_walrus! Just PM me a suggestion from the Submitted Suggestions forum (including a link to the thread) that you'd like to see implemented for Christmas and the name of the absent Executive this issue in the title of your PM and a shiny new General Achievement medal is all yours! :D

As far as this issue goes, we've got a couple Christmas-themed articles from safariguy5 and thehippo8, a new Ask A Mod! article from yours truly, an interview with Global Moderator and Chatter, rdsrds2120, an overflowing War Games with Dukasaur and his eager new Reporters, NoSuvivors, sensfan and Fuzzy316, and a very special clan article from QuikSilver and DJoach, which includes the translated English article, and the original French version, for those of you international folk who might enjoy reading it in your own language :)

Happy Holidays to all my Freestyle readers out there. Just remember to take it easy on the eggnog and whatnot. This issue, rdsrds2120 is interviewed, Sully has a new Ask a Mod article, and I have some gift giving ideas.

Also, we welcome OleCowboyHippy to the freestyle team and we expect great articles in the future. I'm still taking applications, so PM me if you're interested in writing for the Freestyle Section.

:lol: I appreciate your question, greenoaks. Just as a politician would, I'll just answer a slightly different yet somewhat related question, ha. Technically I am a moderator of the Conquer Club Newsletter and Announcements forums, just as a Discussions Moderator is for General Discussion, but unlike a Discussions Moderator, the main purpose of my "modship" is to run the Dispatch and help out with Special Events, so in that sense, I suppose you could say being an actual mod is a more peripheral role of mine. I suppose you could say a "real" moderator might be the Globals, since that is their sole purpose, essentially. To answer your actual question, I'd say I'm not against having a guest moderator answer a question every once and awhile ;)

Well, that was short. How about another? :D (Merry Christmas?)

crazymilkshake5 wrote:whats up with your sig below the picture? (i.e. how did you get it, where did it come from)

:lol: That was from a private Live Chat room back just before gimil was re-inducted into the Cartographers team. As one of the 'softer' personalities of TeamCC (and perhaps the fact that I'm an old man? *shrugs*), I tend to be more...how should I put this? Agreeable than argumentative? Plus, I'm not that uptight and am pretty casual outside of official TeamCC business. (And I'm pretty sure posting stupid things on a regular basis probably is a factor as well, haha) I always take it as a sign of love. If being TeamCC's bitch makes the rest of TeamCC feel better, then I suppose I don't mind :) I just wish I could be the scapegoat for lackattack! I think he gets a lot of flak for the hours he puts into his thankless job (though, granted, he's making money, unlike us overworked, sleep-deprived volunteers, ha). Anyway, back to the question. Whenever I'm in Live Chat, Masli has convinced all of the Live Chat mods to "kick" me with the /me command, and the /kick command when in a private room, haha. And it has rather bled into forum posts in the main private room of the TeamCC forums. All in all, I take the title and responsibility with pride, just like I do with "Chief Executive" :)

I hope you enjoyed this edition of Ask A Mod! I can always use some more questions in the Ask A Mod! thread, so stop on by to ask anything you like, from questions about Conquer Club to TeamCC to maps to tournaments to clans to suggestions to C&A cases...to whatever! :)

It's the season of giving, and I thought I would extend that to the online community we have here. Now I'm not going to use this article to plug the store and suggest everyone get lots of shirts and coffee mugs, because that would be unethical of me as a journalist.

Instead, I'll focus on things that are a bit less materialistic. Now we know that some people probably have very easy gift ideas. Army of GOD would probably love a nice Tebow Fathead or something, and Symmetry would probably love some nice OT threads. But for the rest of us, I think the most general gift idea is probably points. A nice bundle of points for Christmas is basically like giving someone money for their birthday. Not very imaginative. So I'll suggest some alternatives to points.

Maybe you could offer to teach someone a new map! Share your wisdom and expertise and give the joy of knowledge. Except then the person is probably going to go and farm the crap out of that map and gain a bunch of points.

How about gifting someone premium? A nice gesture and it lets them make as many games as they want. But then they'll probably go and join a bunch of tournaments and public team games to get points AND medals. Also no good.

You could always help them make a new map. Contribute to the community and gain some prestige as a mapmaker. But then making a map comes with free premium and we all know what happens when someone gets premium.

Clans could be a good present to give someone. Get them into a nice clan where they can meet new people and hone their team ability. Except then the clan forms some really good teams and it's basically giving them points using team games.

You know what? Points are unavoidable. Just think of your own ideas for gifts this Christmas. I have to order that Tebow Fathead.

Want to get into the Mafia scene, but don't know how to play or even what it is? Consult these threads: Mafia Information, Mafia and You, and Rules and Terms of Mafia.Too much work? Too lazy to read through everything? No worries, you can always jump right into a game and ask for other players or the game runner to help guide you.

What is "Mafia"?Mafia, for those of you that don't know, is a game that generally takes place in a town, where the townspeople have to determine who the mafia (or "scum") is and lynch them via a majority vote during the day and the mafia try to kill everyone at night and bluff their way out of getting killed by the town.

Mafia NewsMr. Squirrel's Fantasy Mafia has started! A large, 25 man game styled on Dungeons and Dragons, the most valuable player is awarded a years worth of Premium!

In Golden Pantheon Greek Mafia, Day 2 has begun with the death of the Town Doctor! Hopefully town can come back from this significant loss.

Mafia CalloutsCalling all players interested! Some mafia games need some filling:

What is It?Generally, a vote for no lynch Day 1 is usually interpreted as a mafia move. Indeed, no lynching with little discussion does little to generate lynch targets later and it gives mafia a free nightkill going into Day 2. However, at some point, town may have forced enough claims to consider no lynching and prevent giving mafia more information. Inherently, townies are going to die regardless of a lynch, but pressuring claims and generating discussion is how town is able to figure out who is lying and lynch them later on.

That being said, after the second or third claim does not end in a lynch, town may be inclined to no lynch. Especially if the claimed roles have night actions, it should be easier to verify if they were being truthful in the later days. Of course, the number of claims before a no lynch can go up or down depending on how many players are in the game.

ExampleJack claims a busdriver role and Jill claims a watcher role in a 14 player game. Everyone decides to no lynch because both of these roles should be able to be confirmed relatively soon.

How to Use this StrategyA lot of whether to no lynch is reliant on the types of claims that are being made. Obviously, investigative or protective roles should be taken seriously. This assumes of course, that the person is not counterclaimed. Vote manipulative roles that can be proven easily should probably also be given the benefit of the doubt. Often, the Day 1 lynch target happens to be a claimed Vanilla Townie. It may not be mafia, but it does give good information about vote patterns and can also reveal some flavor if the game is themed.

Q. What do you looooove about modding? CC in general?Oh modding. It's an...interesting little job for sure, but I'd have to say I love organizing events/facilitating/organizing projects/things more than I do the actual disciplinary side. I like being a resource for people, and I have people who regularly ask me questions and that's awesome. CC in general? The people and forums. I'm only in 5 active games right now, and what keeps me coming back are the regular funny posters (natty, AoG, jones) and the ones that really contribute (BBS, saxy, Symmetry to name a few).

Q. How long did it take to get the mafia forum proposal approved?The Mafia Forum reorganization was never really a matter of getting it 'approved', but getting it organized and done. Once it had been brought to our attention that the forum needed to be reorganized and rethought about, it was deciding what goes where and how to do it. To help celebrate the new forum, we created Official Mafia/Forum Games to be held occasionally as a cool and fun way to give out prizes for a wider audience than those that come here just to go to war on a battlefield ;). Overall time from proposal to execution though: Wed Nov 24, 2010 11:06 am -- Tue Apr 05, 2011 9:45 am are the timestamps I have on certain reference threads, So 4 months, 11 daysish!

Q. Will you be playing mafia games again, or has Photoshop swallowed your time?Ha! I like to keep active in at least one game at a time, but yes Photoshop among other things (school mostly) have really started eating up my time. I enjoy the extra time over break to really come back and catch up, and I hope I'm a little bit better at time management in the future 8-[

Q. If you lost your body and had to put it into a Frankenstein monster made up of at least 3 animals, which animals you'd you use and what parts?Honey Badger claws, Bear feet, the rest is nag's bod. I WILL BE HIM!:O!

Q. When are you going to come meet me in London?When someone else buys a ticket! Then we'll have awesome nights out, ha. Bars in London.

Q. Tell me how fun Global-modding is.Oh man, this question. I knew it was coming up. Well, you get fans along the way. The one I remember most was theherkman. I think he may have had a crush on me! It was like he followed me around! Global-modding is interesting. You could technically do a lot with your forum priveleges everywhere, but it's mostly in Gen Disc. or OT that they're really used (and Suggs and stuff). I think we should start branching off more to maybe help other Dept.'s when needed. When I first started, I got a thanks for moving things around in the Bug Reports forum accordingly, so it can be used in places you wouldn't suspect!

Q. What is your favorite mafia role? And which one do you think fits you the most?I love being a 3rd Party Serial Killer, then you don't have to lie when you're saying you're not Mafia, haha. Hmm...if I had to pick one that represented me the most, I guess I'd pick the Masons. Keep it secret, keep it safe :-$.

Q. What is your most memorable mafia game?On here? I think it was one of the RT ones in Live Chat one day. It was Rodion and I mostly trying to persuade someone else who to vote for and I had won. It was great.

Q. What do you have against designer shades?Well, they hide your face, and it's probably cuz', you think you're cooler than me. 8-)

Q. When are you going to buy me some premium?NEVER! Well, unless I run into a large some of money, then I might haha. I need $$ for things like soap and food etc. I know, I know, commodities, but I'm addicted to my luxuries :P

Q. Do you enjoy being a chat mod as well as a global mod?You bet. It's really nice, actually, since I'm a global, I have ban access for handling the little stuff that doesn't necessarily need Head Chatter clearance, so it's great for productivity.

Q. Has either post improved how you deal with the other post?Well, at first it was a little odd, because the scales/ways for dealing for offenses are altered a slight bit than in the forums, so it took some adjusting to multitask them both.

Q. How did we ever talk you into become an SoC Team Training teacher?You didn't, I volunteered, and I'm loving it ;)

Q. Have you secretly cloned yourself to deal with all this work on your plate?Twice in fact. I blame Obamacare that it's not working!!

Q. You've beaten me about a hundred million times in team training matches. How many goats is that worth?4 if one of them is named Derek and another is allergic to Victor Sullivan. If not, Betty White.

Q. What do you say to these allegations that you've fathered a child with a 20-year-old?What allegations? Who? I don't know what you're talking about! Well, time to move to Little Rock and start my new life as a street musician.

Q. What specifically turned you off from participating in competitive clans? What would you change to improve the clan experience?Well, every clan I've been in was really fun at first! I mean, it's never been the people that have mad me leave for sure, it was the constant games. I'm more of a speed freestyle player myself, and always having to be in team games where I couldn't have an appropriate sitter was just hard at times. I don't think there is something that could be changed in policy or the like to make clans more fun to me. It's not you, it's me D:

Q. Is it because you can't share your password with other clan mates because you are a Mod?That actually is part of it. Kind of a bummer, but we carry on.

Q. Do you think all the baiting and attacks that your clan has received from players like jefjef and a couple of others, that has stopped you participating in clan wars?Nawh, I usually try to avoid the politics. I deal with them enough as a mod, haha.

Q. Do you actually watch Glee?You bet your ass I do.

Q. Is Blitzaholic the Rachel Berry of Conquer Club?Well, there are similarities and differences. Rachel talks. A LOT. I don't see a lot of long talking from Blitz, mostly short posts or nothing these days (save Tournaments). However, if we had to compare competitive drive, I'd say spot on. He seems to spend a lot of time wanting to be the best here, which is something Rachel would do I imagine. Also, there was a bit of drama as we're all well aware, which Rachel sure knows how to do.

Q. What's your favourite food?Quische.

Q. Hobby?MTG (Wonderfully horribly addicting card game!)

Q. Board game?Quelf by far. If you ever get a chance to play and don't mind near-public humiliation, go for it. It's an absolute blast.

Q. Do you play any online games other than CC?Nawh, this place eats up most of my online time. Well, I do play Tetris when I'm bored. I don't know if that counts though :-s

Q. What do you think of blueberry pancakes?Delicious in every country except uzbeki-beki-beki-stan-stan-stan.

Q. Ever fought three people at once in a fistfight?Does one really big person count? If so then yes. Dude was at least 400. He tripped and I won, graceful I know, but I'll take a win.

Q. "I think, therefore I am." True or false?If "I am" implies mere existence, then yes. If it implies some other obscure ancient-Chinese-se-cret, then I'd have to say no.

Thanks for your time rds!No problem! Seeya around! :D

Hello again my friends, and welcome to your favorite part of the Newsletter, "War Games", where you can find information about CC Tournaments! New volunteers have joined our ranks: I'm very pleased to introduce you to fuzzy316, sensfan, and NoSurvivors. All are experienced Tournament organisers and very creative writers, and I'm absolutely thrilled with the new material they've created. I think you will be too.

Fuzzy starts us off with his Official Tourney Update, covering the Conquer Cup and the Official 200 Maps tourney. After that, sensfan launches his new TPA Wrap (a much-expanded successor to our old TPA Update.) After that, we have not one but two great interviews in the Meet the Tournament Winners section: WorldCup4James talks to Robespierre_ while Fuzzy316 interviews abygorb. Then, we have the fourth installment of Dave's Tournament Tips; if you've been following this series, Dave's Tips are great for learning to use Excel to simplify your workload in running your Tournament. Enjoy! I've done Join This? Or Not!, our regular look at tournaments currently in sign-up, while NoSurrender launches Tourney of the Week, an in-depth look at just one.

HI there folks and Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays! Here is a short update on two of our large official event tourneys that are underway.

Conquer Cup I

Round 2 action has seen almost all 32 of those free account holders eliminated. Out of 25 players moving to Round 3, only 4 of those players remain. (Currently 1 Round 2 game still in play).

Round 3 action is now finished as well. Here we have seen the elimination of 3 of those free players. We our 5 finalists for the final game at this time. The players jileaux (USA) and privatejj, scallear & Fyrdraca (all from the UK), as well as kchalot who is from parts unknown (satellite provider). scallear is currently the only free account holder who made it this far.

The final game is currently in Round 2 with no one below the rank of Captain in this game.The 200 maps tourney

In the official event for the celebration of CC's 200th map, we have nearly completed Round 1 of play. Currently of the initial 160 players and 40 groups we have 38/40 groups who have completed play.

No player swept all 5 of their games in their groups, but we have seen several players win 4 of 5 games. There has also been 12 group tie-breaker games needed to move on. Players here saw 2 players with 2 victories go head to head. We have seen 6 groups where the winner only won 2 games, and the other 3 players each only 1. All tie-breaker games are completed at this time.

Round 2 action will soon be underway, where only 40 players remain and will be facing off in their own chosen maps from their own group. Just like round 1, it will be the player with the most wins.

After Round 3 is over, the final 5 players will play a total of 25 games in the final round to determine the master of this tourney.

If you would like to see the action for yourself in this tourney, here ya go:

Welcome to my first edition of the TPA Wrap, and how about a round of applause for angola, who ran this part of the War Games section. I just couldn't name this TPA Update; my weird personality screams and says, "TPA Update is written by angola, TPA Wrap is written by you", so I'm retiring TPA Update and naming this TPA Wrap.

HeadlinesHere are a select few of the TPA2 tournaments and a wrap on TPA1.

TPA Season 1 WrapNow, the TPA Season 1 is winding down with 10 tournaments ongoing and among those, 2 Majors tourneys. Sonicsteve is maintaining an ever-shrinking lead to MudPuppy. The confusing previous scoring makes it impossible to tell who will win, but if I was a betting man, I'd say sonicsteve is safe right now, but you can never say it's over till it's over!

TPA Season 2: Speed Terminator VAs mentioned in the past, only 1 tournament has been finished to date. DJ Teflon's Speed Terminator V finished with Leehar winning with a dominating Kill Point Percentage of 3600%. Uckuki came in second with 2100%. Leehar wins the first completed event of the year, winning 500 points. Uckuki is in second with 300.

TPA Season 2: Sonic Goes Back To SchoolMeanwhile, in last year's leader's sonicsteve's tournament, Sonic Goes Back To School, Year 1 games are still running. Only the English and Astronomy classes have not started. As of December 1st, 2011, osujacket has a small lead over Leehar. The lowest 40 out of 120 are within points of each other, and will need to fight if they want to progress to the 2nd Year.

TPA Season 2: Eurobasket 2011In the Eurobasket Competition, no teams have secured spots in the next phase. However, 6 trios have no chance to be in the top 3 of their group. Current TPA leader Leehar is in team Russia, where his threesome is on the top of their group.

TPA Season 2: World Cup DoublesTPA Leader Leehar and his partner maasman was taken out early in the Group Stage, and in the Knock-Out Stage, 16 teams are at the ready, waiting for matches to continue. Krissan and Highlander Attack, who had a great Group Stage, are paired up with Ir1sh Ace and Conchobar in the first round. Lots of points up for grabs, as this is a major event, one of four on the year.

TPA Season 2: Bruceswar Escalating Terminator TournamentDeng Xiao Ping, gameplayer, deantursx, Tripitaka, Enormastitz, Night Strike are the finalists of this tournament. They are playing on 5 maps to determine the winner, and we need a clear winner. Right now it's early in all these games so quite frankly, I cannot predict a winner.

TPA Season 2: So, you wanna be a PirateThis Pirate-themed Premier Event began on Poker Club with 1v1 round robin play, with two thirds being cut after that round. In the second round, British Isles played host to the 30, cut to 12. Among those 12 round-3'ers are Leehar, Hath and keiths31, all threats in this round on Hong Kong.

TPA Season 2: I picked Which Map?The commissioner of the TPA2, barterer2002 opened up a fascinating singles tourney with oyu having to choose a map you've never won on. You must change that map if you have won on it during the tournament play. Among the chosen maps were Quad Cities, Steamworks and the favorite, Golfe Du Saint-Laurent. Round 1 play is closing up.

TPA 1 Standings

BREAKING NEWS: NEW TPA1 RANKINGS As I've mentioned above, sonicsteve still has the narrow lead over MudPuppy, a bit more than 2 points. He has cracked the 70 point barrier. That could evaporate in one tournament, but MudPuppy needs to come out with a couple of unlikely clutch wins. Well behind, Bones2484 is at the bronze medal spot, but danryan is nearly 2 tenths of a point behind. HA has a small lead in 5th, as Enormastitz is just a little more than a point behind him. Commissioner barterer2002 has a lead of one tenth of a point over ubcman64 for 7th spot, and ga7 jumps past Timminz for 9th. Timminz is in 10th.

TPA 2 Standings

Leehar is in the lead with 500 points, followd by uckuki who has 300. Rbelgrod has 210 in third, and trinicardinal has 150 in fourth, with General Bax rounding out the top 5. Speed Generalissimo DJ Teflon is in 6th tied with ThrushAAX. HA sits in 8th spot with Krissan, and chemefreak rounds out the top 10. TPA1 leader sonicsteve has yet to cash in on the TPA2 tallyboard.

Did You Know? * 843 TPA1 participants have points on the TPA 1 board, varying from 0.04 to 67.25 * The highest ranked TPA Season 1 player to not have won a tournament in danryan, in 4th place! I kid you not, he has not won a tournament, yet still ranks as the fourth best TPA Season One'er in the Club!

Paparazzi's CornerSo, this fortnight I got a hold of Sonicsteve, Leader of TPA 1, MudPuppy, 2nd place of the TPA 1 Standing, and Leehar, leader of the TPA 2 Tallyboard.

So above I'd made some predictions about how close the TPA 1 is shaping out, but the best way to find out if we're going to get an upset is by asking the championship underdog (Get it, underdog, and MudPuppy is a puppy, which is a dog, right! Heh... heh, okay my jokes are really bad.)

MudPuppy wrote:I think my chances of catching Sonic are quite slim. I've done well to get as close as I currently am but have not performed well in the two Major TPA tourney's yet to be scored. Sonic will surely be able to extend the lead and claim his well-earned title.

Not the most optimistic comment. And we always like to see good sportsmanship and respect between contestants so here we go:

MudPuppy wrote:Definitely some words for Sonic: Congratulations on a well-played series. It was a pleasure to watch you in action and I'm pleased to see the title go to such an honorable player and all-around good guy. Very well done!!!

Well said. How does Sonic think of his position?

Sonicsteve wrote:He [MudPuppy] will win.

Did he really mean that? I mean, seriously? Conquer Club is a very pessimist place! ;)

Now over to TPA 2, where Leehar is trying to stay in contention:

Leehar wrote: I haven't been doing as well of late, (not many likely titles on the way) but I'm hoping to stay in contention by participating in as many of the tourneys as possible.

Do you have a question for any TPA player, commissioner, graphics designer? Drop me a pm with your question and the juiciest ones get picked and asked, to be featured in the next edition of the TPA Update Wrap.

All that's all for the Paparazzi Section.

In Conclusion...

So with Sonicsteve keeping the smallest of leads in TPA 1, Leehar resides at the top of TPA 2... temporarily, I guess. The next tournament coming up is Serbia's premier event, looking forward to it!

Have a happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas or whatever holiday you celebrate: and have a happpy new year!Until next time, for our Special CC Anniversary Issue coming out January 2nd, you can expect predictions, criticism and opinion from your good pal... Sensfan

We welcome the two-and-a-half year CC veteran, currently in the top 150 players on Conquer Club, Robespierre__ to our next edition of the Meet the Tournament Winners' series. It's quite revolutionary! Get the pun? Yes, yes? Lame attempt at humor? Indeed.

To start, what appealed to you about this particular tournament that TheCrown hosted?

It had a very strange format (something TheCrown is not a stranger to coming up with) which mixed singles and multi-player games and had people getting byes for doing well early, getting a bonus point for winning a 1v1 going second and giving the higher seed the ability to pick the maps upon which the battle lines would be drawn (from a set list). The list of participants at the moment I found the tourney was already pretty good so I felt like I should support the hard work TheCrown puts into the site. I tend to join tournaments for people that put real time into CC. I have two kids under two years old so I can't be one that does a lot of organizing.

What was it that set you apart from the other competitors and enabled you to claim victory?

Well that is an easy question. Unadulterated luck! I suppose better players will win slightly more than they will lose (and by no means am I saying I am one of those), but this kind of tournament requires good dice, going first, and maps with which you are familiar. I had all three of those.

Did any game stand out for you as being particularly noteworthy?

Setting aside the final where I handled jsnyder748, there actually was a game which stood out for me. In the Round Three 4-person Flat Rate, Foggy game (the format for the Round was a 1v1 against all three players in your group plus one 4-person Flat Rater to determine who advanced to Round Four), we found ourselves on Solar System. I nearly drew the Neptune bonus and finished it in my first round. From there I grabbed a territory per turn and started to squirrel away troops next to the warp gate out of sight. I lucked into two of the others competing for the Earth/Moon bonus and apparently managed to keep the others thinking that someone was keeping me in check by making sure to leave a weak territory for one of them to grab. I cashed and kept stacking in the back as much as I could to the point that I had about 35 troops next to the warp gate. From there I waited until the gent who had won the battle for Earth/Moon had 4 spoils, went through the warp gate, eliminated him, and by then it was too late for the others to do anything. I felt that game was one of the few that I won by "strategery" rather than by fiat of the dice-gods.

So you plan on teaching the next generation your tricks to the trade of risk-taking... ;) ;) Throughout your experience, which map can you most rely on in terms of sheer excitement and mastery?

I love this question. There are so many great maps that this community has made. I want to highlight one that I am quite sure is overlooked by many because it seems so deceptively simple at first glance: Oaktown's Central America. I find it to be the best 2v2 map out there. It is very well balanced and is a constant challenge to come up with the best decision. I always feel like my team is one bad turn from defeat even as you think you have the advantage. Most maps have so much dead space that is irrelevant to the game -- you end up waging war in one or two areas each time you play the map and the winner gradually spreads out and absorbs all that meaningless territory on the way to victory. On Central America, most all of the territory is strategically relevant, and you end up playing the map slightly differently each time you play.

I think most of the more experienced players on CC end up mastering the more complicated maps (Waterloo, Stalingrad, Poison Rome, etc.) simply because the obscurity of those more complicated maps is an advantage against those who have not played them as often. You should never be surprised to find me on Central America, Berlin:1961, Supermax: Prison Riot, Waterloo, Stalingrad, Poison Rome, or Middle Ages.

But I have to say that I have randomly been very successful on a few maps and cannot for the life of me explain why. Cairns Coral Coast comes to mind. I don't know what my record on that map is, but I just seem to keep winning on it. And I know that the dice-gods will punish me for self-congratulatory call out. Curses.

I know that the dice-gods will punish me for self-congratulatory call out. Curses.

In that case, this interview has cursed your intensity cubes for life :lol:

So, if you don't mind me asking, what are your favorite hobbies or pastimes (other than CC, of course :mrgreen: )? Any other online or board games that you've come to enjoy? Care to share just a few?

With two kids under two, I have no other pastimes at this point other than a basketball league I play in every Thursday. Family gatherings at Chez Robespierre often result in a deck of cards coming out for hearts, spades, or Oh Hell! The beheading of the loser is my favorite part. My friend and frequent teammate Tarcellius can attest to the huge lifesuck that the little ones create. But it is the best thing that can ever happen to a person, and I am relishing every day I have with my daughter and now newborn son.

Ah, so there is reasoning behind your name? History buffs certainly would be interested in knowing why you'd choose the name of "The Incorruptible", Maximilien Robespierre, the leading figure of the French Revolution?? :lol:

Sadly, though I certainly have the most cursory of knowledge of the Reign of Terror and French history from the Revolution through Napoleon's (second and final) exile, the nickname simply comes from the fact that my last name is similar enough to Robespierre that it became my nickname in high school, later shortened to Robes or RP. I wish I had a better story to tell.

Well I wish you a nice reign of terror against all your opponents! Only 14,000 opponents to beat... :lol:

To wrap things up, what are your upcoming goals on Conquer Club?

I have to say that I leave goal making for real life. I wouldn't mind seeing an Eagle next to my name once just for the fun of it. I continue playing because of the friends I have made and enjoy the daily check-in that is part of that CC friendship. I am grateful for the time and effort that the coders and volunteers (this means you, WorldCup4James) have made to make this site what it is. I hope that the Premium fees are enough to keep things going and allow the site to continue to make improvements.

It certainly is great to have a connection with the thousands of devout risk-takers out there :D

Thanks for taking part in the interview! Hope to catch you in a game sometime :D All the best!

This month we have the privilege of bringing the winner of the 2011 World Cup of Risk winner abygorb, who triumphed over the course of months of game-play to secure the win for Mexico! abygorb has entered a variety of tournaments throughout the time he has been involved with CC. This particular tournament is his biggest tournament victory to date. He has won several tournaments overall and really enjoys playing against such a wide variety of opponents.

What made you decide to join this tournament when it came out?

I like the concept of the "World Cup" by playing at the beginning; first by country then continent and finally the world, considering that the ones playing represent that country. Also as a Mexican we usually love the soccer world cup, we are always very optimistic that we are going to have a good showing in each tournament, but at the end we never pass to the next round, so at least we can show that we are better at CC. ;)

In this particular tournament, were there times when you felt it was over, and have you ever entered any kind of contest in real life for strategy games?

The tournament could have been over for me many times. In particular in the final, I had A LOT of luck. It came down to the one who was going to win would be the one who will change the next set of cards. Two people before me had 4 cards and couldn't cash; I had the lucky 3. Also I had to take a risk on finishing "xman5151" who had 5 cards and it was very tight!

I have not entered a contest like this in real life.

Why do you join tournaments in general? What is the draw for you?

Lately I've been joining more tournament than regular games, I think its more fun playing a tournament because you look at the ways of advancing forward, and there are a lot of creative guys who are inventing new tournaments with different dynamics than a normal game. I started playing tournaments more often since CC put the Tournament TAB, before that I was lazy enough to look for them. BTW I love very much your tournaments. I usually play single games / tournament; I don't have too many team players.

What interested you in CC in the first place, and why did you choose it over other sites you may have played on?

I liked to play Risk board game but the problem was that usually a lot of my friends didn't like it or a game could last several hours. I discovered CC around 4 years ago and from the first moment I loved it. I loved that I can wait up to 24 hrs to play my turn so I thought at the beginning that it will not mess with my work (and at the end it does because its very addictive, but I don't care :D ), all around the way the game is structured, the GUI, and the people involved it makes it very professional. Also its good to know that we are not alone and that there are hundreds or thousands of people from around the world that they like to play it too.

Do you have any favorite wins? Are there any particular games you either won or lost that make you go.. man.. I remember when...?

Favorite wins: Of course this tournament, and other ones. There was one I played (don't remember the name) but it was like an assassin into an assassin game, that was fun! I hate those games where I have everything planned to finish with someone (its usually an escalating game) and then because a "finger" mistake where I press the wrong button or make a double click I move (or don't move) all the troops to the wrong territory so its over.

Looking at your tourney history win: This is your fifth tourney win overall, and the third this year. Your first two wins look like they were done in the international scene, and were over a year apart. Having won 3 this year (two of which were my own tourneys), have you done anything to change your game which you feel may have played a hand in increasing your tourney wins?

I don't know if I have improved my game or not; maybe I figured out some new strategies and also this way force myself to play maps that I usually don't play because I don't know them, and once I do it, I like them very much. What is for sure is that I'm doing fewer mistakes with the "double click"

I hate moving or not moving in the right spots. It can be such a game changer. Of course, ConquerClubBob can help with that. I feel that there are some aspects of the tool gets annoying. It's kind of like Windows asking are you sure you want to install? Are you sure you want to allow? Are you sure...etc. I use it for many of the other factors, and turn off the ones that annoy me. :-$

I've never seen ConquerClubBob!

Do you still participate in the international Tournaments?

Right now I will continue to get into the tournaments if they look interesting,

There are a number of Tournament Organizer's out there, do you feel like you may enter the scene and challenge some people to a tournament you run, or do you like simply looking for the challenges to take on?

I was not considering the idea of starting a tournament myself but now that you mention it I will think about it and try something for 2012.

Do you have any goals or achievements that you are trying to accomplish here on CC?

I’ve been trying to keep a stable rank and try to achieve a “Colonel” level but sometimes I’m a little unstable so my rank goes up and down. When I choose a game I do it based on the type of game and not very much on the ranking of the rest of the players, of course I like to play with high ranked players which are a big challenge to beat!, but I’m not concern that if an X player wins I will lose more points on my rank.

Have you brought any real life friends into the world of CC?

I have invited a few friends to CC but they don't last too long. I've organized internal tournaments in my company (right now we are 12 people), I don't know if all of them like it or some of them are just playing because I'm their boss :lol: , but I see it as a way to have a better integration, sometimes everybody is traveling, are not at the office but at least they will do their play during the next 24 hrs.

Any tips for other CC tourney players still struggling for their first tournament win?

For the ones that haven’t won a tournament yet all I can say is, just keep trying, it’s a matter of time and meanwhile you are still enjoying a good game which I think is the important part.

Books, travel around the world and eat regional food, cross-country runningI work on telecommunication networks so everything that has to do with electronics I love it

And of course spending time with my family!

What is your favorite color?

I don’t have a particular one but when I play CC I like purple

You say you are interested in traveling the world. What is the most awesome/memorable place you have been?

Exotic places: Inside Mexico I love to go into nature adventures; there’s a place called Matacanes which is a crystal clear river where the water comes out filtered from the rocks of the mountain, to get into there you have to do rappelling besides a cascade, then it’s a long walk inside the river , caves, high jumps and slides made or rock!.A month ago I went to China/Hong Kong; before that to India. Those places are really interesting, especially if you come from an occidental culture where the people, manners and food are completely different.

Your soapbox, anything else you would like to comment on, add or otherwise punish us with random insane thoughts? Wait.. who said that? No, it wasn't me. Who is that? No they are not talking about you they mean us. ;)

I have to take a couple of “tequilas” to be able to start writing some insane thoughts, meanwhile I want to congratulate or the people involved in CC and the tournaments, it has become my virtual sanctuary.Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us. Any parting thoughts or wishes?

Your tournament is up and running. Now you need to occasionally check on progress and update the results when games have finished.

To keep track of the games, the "Tour Stats" button on the game finder gives a summary of the state of progress of your tournament/s. If one or two games are taking a bit longer to finish and you want to send out the next round games as soon as possible after these games have finished, you can also install and use the Turn Watch greasemonkey script which adds a tab listing all the games you have clicked to watch.

When games have finished and you want to update your tournament thread, a simple process I use is a spreadsheet with functions to simplify the copy for your thread. Consider a simple 1 vs 1 knock-out:

Click image to enlarge.

Columns B and C are the lists of competing players and column D the game number (yes, I know that in my last spreadsheet about inviting players by pms, the players were all in one column, but the following example is to keep the coding as simple as possible). The next column is blank until the game is finished, then the winning player's name is copied in. The code in column E is:

For those of you who want to understand the Excel functions, after the text to insert the game number there is a conditional statement; if the winner cell is blank, then put in the two players' names , else if the winner text is PlayerA, include the "s" tag for PlayerB, otherwise include the "s" tag for Player A. The "s" tag puts lines through the loser's name.When the text in column E is copied to your tournament thread in the appropriate place, you get the following:Game 1234567 Player4 vs Player2Game 1234566 Player5 vs Player1Game 1234565Player3 vs Player7

Note that the above coding does not take into account the winning player being mistyped into the column. However, you can amend the code to take care of this eventuality:

Of course, there are many variations of this format that you may want to use. If you have several players, then the coding to put lines through the losers can get quite tricky, so I have used the following for a 4-player Assassin tournament:

Click image to enlarge.

This simply adds the name of the winner after the game number and list of players.The coding for this is:

And there you are; "proper job" as they say here in Devon! Merry Christmas To You All!

(These "tips" are ones that I have tried to make it a bit easier in managing my own tournaments. I am sure there are different and better methods than these, so please let me know. Any queries on the above I'll be glad to respond to!)

We have already mentioned the 2012 World Classic and the Chief Trio elsewhere in this issue, so I won't talk too long about them, except to recommend that you should most definitely have a look!

A couple of fairly ambitious TPA tournaments are still open: World Assassin, hosted by keiths31 is currently at 111 of 160 signups, so there is plenty of space left. As you might imagine from the title, it is an Assassin tournament, and it is a TPA Major Event, so you really need to join this if you have your eye on that TPA scoreboard. Another TPA event in signups is The Missionary's Quads Showdown. It is currently at 22 of 36 teams signed up, and is now accepting singles who don't have a team ready and want to be matched up.

Quite a few of the contestants in the Fantasy/Sci-Fi Tournament Contest have now posted their tourneys for sign-up. I'm not going to mention them individually at this point, but next issue I'm planning a complete article devoted to them and they will all be individually linked there. In the meantime, you can have a look through the contest thread and it may give you some idea.

Finally, if I can be forgiven a gratuitous personal plug, I need five more Quads teams for my Christmas Quads tourney. The Christmas map will only be available for a limited time, so it's fairly urgent to get this off the ground quickly. Another Christmas map tourney is Chap's Christmas: Big Terminator Robin Style; this too is something you should sign up for quickly; the map won't be around long!

Hey all, for all you who know me I'm the Surv, introducing my new section, Tourney of the Week, an in-depth look at a tournament currently in the sign-up stage.

This segment, I will examine the 2012 World Classic is a huge tourney holding sign-ups until Christmas. Its a tourney for all classic Risk players, and still need quite a few sign ups. This tourney takes players from all around the world, as it is split up into pools (Such as Oceania , the different states of the USA, different provinces of Canada, ETC.) Your pool depends on where you are from.

It is being run by Tupence, a successful and veteran, if I do say so myself, tournament organizer, with 15 under his belt!

The tourney is mainly a round robin, with some 6 player games in there too, for each pool. Points are the currency, and the person with the most points in each pool at the end of the round robin for that round is in the next (Points are scored by winning games, see thread for details). Sounds like a high paced, intense and well thought up process, and I myself have joined up (If it will let me, as my part of Canada is taken up!)

And this concludes this issue's Tourney of the Week! Hope you enjoyed it, and hope to be writing again soon!

Hello, hello! Actually it's Sully here again, covering for thehippo8 during his vacation! Ah, how odd it is that I am back here again (well, not so odd, I've only been Chief for around a month). Anywho, hippo still managed a Christmas article, suitable for time and theme, and koontz knocks 'em dead with two articles, one thinking ahead to the new year! Enjoy :)

Yuletide and Jingle Bells, full stomachs and presents are all very well, but there are a few wishes that would be nice to come true in the Foundry too. Some simple, some not, some do-able and others simply insane. Are any of these on your wish list?

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to create a small image (around 75px wide by 55px high) that represents something festive / wintery / christmassy. Once you have created your design (using the image-editing software of your own choosing), please feel free to post it within this thread, embedded within tags.

Over the next 10(ish) days, I will be monitoring this thread, and may (or may not) use the best of the submitted images to feature as part of a conquerclub celebration. If your image/design is used, you will be awarded an official CC Contest Medal. Each contributor may submit no more than 3 designs; only one medal will be awarded for each designer.

On your marks.... get ready..... DRAW!

The cool thing is, aside from everyone getting contribution medals, the hard work by all resulted in the Christmas Map:

Click image to enlarge.

Okay, maybe we will see the map come back this Christmas? But if not why not do another similar competition?

What an immense amount of work went into that mammoth task. Admittedly the Foundry section of the newsletter has taken this over to a certain extent, but a single, all-encompassing, place to go seemed to me a great idea! Oops, maybe I’ve just volunteered myself for that one!

From time to time the idea of 1v1 maps crops up. Problem is that the XML engine doesn’t allow for it. But a very clever ender516 suggested:

If the XML is different, then the gameplay is different, and the records should be kept separate. Put them on the map browser as D-Day (2 Player) and D-Day (3 or more). There's no reason why two maps could not be created using common images (or separate but identical copies) and different XML files. And apparently, the system can enforce an upper limit on the number of players (some maps are restricted to six or less, I believe). So restricting that further to just two players seems relatively straightforward. However, it would likely require code changes to enforce a new minimum number of players. I can only speculate as to how extensive such changes would be, but it is hard to imagine them being much of anything.

Dunno if it would work, but it would enable some truly interesting games to come out. After all, who amongst us doesn’t love a good one on one to get used to a map before the hurly burly of mass or team play?

Sometimes its hard to see the wood for the trees, but if you could stretch or skew a map to your favoured perspective would it change the way you played? We can only assume that the gameplay remains the same:

All you do is cross your eyes, like when looking at something really close. Try putting a finger next to the tip of your nose and staring at your finger, then just slowly move the finger away while keeping your eyes in that position. You should see the 2 map images as 3 images now, with the middle image being a sort of overlay of the 2. Once you can focus your gaze on the 3rd image, you should see it in 3d.

Again, it takes practice... and seems to be easier for some than for others.

With Sully looking after all things news letter, someone needs to let you all know what is where in the different foundry forums. That duty has fallen to me for the first time.Drafting RoomEurasia by natty_dread has already got its supersize stamp and stickied so will be in the main foundry any day now.The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 is by a first time map maker WestWindCopenhagen sightseeing is the third map started by FlapCake. The other two are still at various stages in the foundry.Mafia by Minister X could use some love from all of you Mafia gamers. Whack a mob boss or two.Lots of maps are in the drafting room right now. Other notables include BOSTON MASSACRE, Pixel World, Sicily, CONQUERSHIP, and others as well. But maybe one of the most exciting maps to enter into the foundry over the last couple of weeks is this one by DiM. He is trying to do what no other map maker has done before. Give us a map like World 2.1 but larger. In fact, so much larger, it will include all countries. He gives us World 3.0

Main FoundryRight now, the main foundry has 21 maps in it. 6 are looking for gameplay ideas while 15 are polishing up there graphics. Some great maps to look forward to include...London by natty_Dread again is about to get moved into the final forge.Trench warfair, the second map from FlapCake, dealing with the war to end all wars. :roll: New Zealand is around the 30th map by our most prolific mapmaker cairnswk.DiM brought us the Age of series and lots more, this time he is bringing out the innerchild.Other notables include Papua New Guinea, Salem's Switch, War of Wizards, Caesar Mortuus Est, and others as well. This one I am looking forward to the most (because it is one of mine) is the 1982 Falkland war.

Click image to enlarge.

Final ForgeApart from all of the maps that are in beta now, the final forge holds the 3 maps that we will be playing next. This is the arena for any final polish to graphics and the writing of code. This is where you get one last chance to have your views heard before beta.Cuban Missile Crisis Working on the xml code to make games balanced.

Map Awards 2011 (Voting)We are nearing the end of a very industrious year at the foundry. In 2011 we have gotten to play on 26 new maps, including 3 new limited edition maps (not included in voting). 2012 looks like it may produce even more maps for us, so I thought it would be time to introduce the map making awards to you all. We will keep it simple and small for the first year so only a few categories.Which are...

Best map for 1v1Best large game mapGraphics Overall theme Ease of use (not overly complicated)Best new mapmaker

To vote, just copy the code form at the end and PM me with your answers. (koontz1973) And I will get the results out to you all at the next edition of the Dispatch.

Best map for 1v1Best large game mapGraphics Overall theme Ease of use (not overly complicated)Best new mapmaker

If a map joins Beta before the end of the year and is not on this list, it will be included into next years votes.

Happy gaming everyone, whatever map takes your fancy.

Welcome Readers to the Platoon's Report on all things ClanFirst things first, the Clan Directors (CD's) are still contemplating applications to their team, so throw your hat into the ring if you'd like to contribute in an important role for the Clan Community. (More information at the Volunteer Callout on specifics on applying)Also, remember to hit up your clan leaders on CLA news that I'm no longer privy to ;) (like the advent of Season 4 of the Clan League, with Sign-ups billed for the turn of the year, and commencement slated to start by Mid January).

However, coming back to the exciting issue we have for you today, I'm excited to welcome QuikSilver and DJoach to our clan team - courtesy of the Dispatch's own Application Callout also visible in the link above.These two new additions to the our reporting team break new ground with the foreign language element we're excited to see them bring to the table, as they unveil the first article dual-cast in a foreign language (french) that I've seen in the CC Newsletter. Since we've had Foreign Language Forums for so long on our Board Index, it's finally nice to see them get some representation in the Newsletter as well.

And of course what better article for these intrepid reporters to write on than the tale of the history and formation of their clan LHDD

We have been using more and more abbreviations and acronyms of clan names lately, so remember to peruse the [Official] List of Clans to decipher any quandary's you may be in.

Every clan has it's story... I'll tell you how ``Les Hussards du Dragon`` were made...

Once upon a time, in a country far away in the depths of Europe... In an ancestral time where a little Gallic group were fighting again and again versus the invaders. Because of a lack of leadership, those proud and deadly warriors were fighting on their own. The Elders often talk about the book of Dragon's which says that soon enough, the Gallic will be united. With repeated trials and failure... they keep on fighting ... alone.It is written that one day these insane warriors (who know how to party as well) will finally be united. Gathering all their strength four officers will stand out against the chaos that has grown into their country. That first war was a true echo in the great kingdom of France. The Dragon's book was right after all. It didn't even take three days for the ones we now call ``Hussards`` to push back the invader beyond the seas and mountains. Now, you can still see those proud cavaliers upon your path, with a Dragon on their shields and a Tattoo on their hearts.To this legend was born the Dragon.

True Story!

As we look why a player like Dragon Dor would like to quit one of the best clan on CC (IA) to create his own, we can ask ourselves, if this by avidity, selfishness, or for new challenges? When we ask him the question he first laughs, «It's true I love gold medals and shiny stuff, but it's more because of the linguistic barrier». He's not the only one that left a top clan to join the LHDD, as for example Fairman and DJoach also came from an elite clan like LoW.

All members of LHDD agreed on this detail, they join a francophone clan because it's much easier to them to make jokes and for conversations. Some of them found something even better, like Mishalex: «I wasn't expecting to find such a good vibe. To find very good partners that maintain my motivation to play on this site». Is this the first reason for having a clan? To have fun playing with your partners, improve your game level and get some new stimulating challenges?

That whole idea was of being fully understandable and not worrying about translating your own words into some basic English. Dragon says that they are not an exclusive sect, everyone that speaks french, as a first or second language can apply. As an answer to this statement pamoa says: « of course we are a sect, we got our own secret language, called french! Hard to understand while not in it, it's simply phonetic, useful to read what Dragon Dor is writing! haha».

Well, they seem like a solid group, it's good that they like each other, but are they any good? It's all very well eating Frogs and Snails, but have they got some projects for the future? LHDD got some members that were in solid clan, very competitive and some very good newcomers. They won their first war without comity (courtesy) over Death by Comity. They are also competing at the NC2 against TNC in first round, their matchup will likely finish 21-20, but the outcome is still unconfirmed! LHDD are new but they are certainly are fun to watch. Dragon already stated that he think this clan can only grow up in strength and gain a top 10 spot someday, he doesn't play for fun, but to win!

The ``Hussards`` are there! From Quebec to Switzerland, through France and Italy, that's a clan you'll need to deal with, watch your back!

Here's a funny citation from Lancelot du Lac: «This clan is in the image of Dragon, i.e. brief! ;) »

You love this article and want to be the next interviewed clan? Send us a pm!